wormhole
verbEtymology First use appears c. 1594. From worm + hole. In the scientific sense, introduced by John Archibald Wheeler in 1957.
1
To make porous or permeable through the formation of small holes or tunnels.
wormhole
nounUS /ˈwɝmˌhoʊl/
Etymology First use appears c. 1594. From worm + hole. In the scientific sense, introduced by John Archibald Wheeler in 1957.
1
A hole burrowed by a worm.
- To fill with worme-holes stately monuments.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:
- But he had no sooner got through the worm-hole, than the lad put a small peg in the hole.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 36:
2
A hypothetical shortcut between two points in spacetime, permitting faster-than-light travel and sometimes time travel.
- […]where there is a net flux of lines of force, through what topologists would call "a handle" of the multiply-connected space, and what physicists might perhaps be excused for more vividly terming a "wormhole".1957 December, Charles W. Misner, John Archibald Wheeler, “Classical Physics as Geometry”, in Annals of Physics, volume 2, number 6, pages 525–603:
- Wormhole distortion has overloaded main power systems!1979, Alan Dean Foster, Harold Livingston, directed by Robert Wise, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, spoken by Commander Willard Decker (Stephen Collins):
1 more example
- I think the wormhole that we used to travel here passed directly through this planet's sun.2001, Ron Wilkerson, “Red Sky”, in Martin Wood, director, Stargate SG-1, season 5, episode 5, spoken by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping):
3
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences Slang A location in a monitor program containing the address of a routine, allowing the user to substitute different functionality.
- Related terms
- rabbit hole